I generally lose weight faster than I entered for MFP

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soccerkon26
soccerkon26 Posts: 596 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I am female, 21 years old, 5 foot 5 and 130.5 pounds. Looking to lose only a couple more pounds.

I was at 137.5 when I first started a few months ago and set to lose .5 lb per week. MFP has given me 1450 calories to work with.
I have a food scale so all of my food is pretty accurate, and when I exercise I eat all of my calories back...I even use the MFP burned calorie numbers even though people say they are overestimated!

I also put myself as a sedentary lifestyle because 3 days per week I work in an office and 2 days per week I'm a college student.

I have averaged about 3 pounds per month instead of the expected .5 lb per week...that would be 2 pounds per month so it doesn't sound like a big difference, but I've had quite a few days where I have eaten over my calorie limit! Every day I either eat practically right at the calories I have left for the day, or over.

Can anyone make sense of this? Thanks!

Replies

  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited April 2015
    No, LOL. The same has happened to me. I'm a gnarled old perimenopausal woman with a thyroid comparable to the belching carburetor of a 1970s Chevy anything and I am losing a bit faster than I was expected to per my stats (I too am set up at Sedentary).

    I say...go with it.
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    edited April 2015
    Everybody has a different number of calories that they need to maintain their weight (this would be the base number that your deficit would be subtracted from), yours must be a bit higher than the generic calculation by MFP. Could be a higher metabolism, thyroid, or it could just be that you are young and fit with a high muscle mass. Consider yourself lucky, and enjoy :)
  • uvi5
    uvi5 Posts: 710 Member
    Eat more and enjoy. You're blessed!
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  • Pootler74
    Pootler74 Posts: 223 Member
    edited April 2015
    Heh. I was going to post the same thing. I know that we all burn differently, but I'm still surprised at the difference between MFP's calculations and reality.

    For me, MFP suggests 1450 net calories to lose half a kilo a week. I actually average a net of about 1800. That includes eating back half my exercise calories. I've set my activity level at sedentary, manually enter half of whatever my supposed calorie burn is and eat all of whatever that number is.

    So, I'm netting quite a bit more than MFP suggests. I'm losing 3 kilos a month. Twice what MFP predicts. I'm just assuming it's higher muscle mass that does it. I've always found it easy to lose weight, so maybe I just do have a higher metabolism. Dunno. But very grateful for it!

    I'm 40 now though and won't always be this lucky. So I'm pretty determined to get to a sensible weight now while I can still do it while eating creme eggs and drinking beer. :)
  • Cryptonomnomicon
    Cryptonomnomicon Posts: 848 Member
    edited April 2015
    Simply put you are at a higher calorie deficit than the math of MFP the calculator has estimated.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    The numbers we use for everything are averages. If they result in some people losing less weight than expected, there must be some people who will lose more weight. You appear to be one of those people.
  • soccerkon26
    soccerkon26 Posts: 596 Member
    Finally something has been created in my favor!! ;) I guess this is a GOOD problem :)
    Thanks for your help!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,659 Member
    Yes, here's another fast loser :D Though in my case it might have been a severe case of anaemia which helped in losing the weight. At least that's sorted. And I'm maintaining as I lost enough.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    I can only make sense of my jealousy :)
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Yeah, MFP's estimates are too low for me. I set my activity level to "very active", even though I am not, just to get it right.
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